(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a plate member, a gripping device that grips the plate member, and a gripping method of the plate member.
(ii) Related Art
Conventionally, there have been known an image forming apparatus in which a toner-developed image formed on an image carrier is transferred and fixed onto a recording medium, thereby forming an image on the recording medium. Some such image forming apparatuses are provided with a cleaning unit that causes the tip of a cleaning blade to touch the surface of the image carrier after the developed image is transferred onto the recording medium, thereby cleaning unnecessary matters such as toner residues remaining on the surface of the image carrier.
Further, some such cleaning units are designed to collect the unnecessary matters scraped by the cleaning blade and to store them in a casing of the cleaning unit. The blade is fixed to part of the casing by means of a plate member that supports the blade.
It is conceivable that the procedure of attaching the plate member supporting the blade to the casing can be automated by using a robot system with multiple arms. In the automated system, for example, one of the multiple arms has, on its front end, a component gripping device that grips a plate member. More specifically, each of the plate members is accommodated in an accommodation area on a predetermined tray where multiple accommodation areas are arranged. The plate member accommodated on the tray is gripped by the component gripping device. The plate member gripped by the component gripping device is carried, as the arm moves, to a different location where a casing is placed and is attached to a predetermined location. Subsequently, a fixing device attached to a front end of the robot's different arm secures the plate member to the casing.
The accommodation area on the tray used in such an automated system has a size sufficient for the plate member. Thus, even when the multiple accommodation areas are arranged regularly on the tray, positions of the plate members in the accommodation areas on the accommodation tray are likely to be irregular. Accordingly, in order to enable easy attachment of the plate member at a predetermined position on the casing, the plate member needs to be gripped at a fixed position of the component gripping device.
Here, it is conceivable to form notches, at both ends of the plate member, having such a shape that becomes narrower as it goes further in the depth direction, i.e., the center, and move pins provided at the component gripping device toward the center to slide into the notches and grip the plate member by the component gripping device. This idea is deemed to rectify irregular positions of the plate members in the accommodation areas on the tray and enable the plate members to be gripped at a fixed position of the component gripping device.
However, due to recent demands for a smaller image forming apparatus, layout of the plate member in the longitudinal direction is restricted. Thus, it is difficult to secure a space for notches to be formed in the both ends of the plate member and to be used for the component gripping device to grip the plate member.
This problem is not limited to the plate member that is used for automatic assembly of an image forming apparatus, and may occur in any device that is automatically assembled by using a plate member that is restricted in terms of layout in the longitudinal direction.